Related Experiment Video
Updated: Feb 14, 2026

A Method to Study α-Synuclein Toxicity and Aggregation Using a Humanized Yeast Model
Published on: November 25, 2022
The Small GTPase RAC1/CED-10 Is Essential in Maintaining Dopaminergic Neuron Function and Survival Against
Hanna Kim1, Carles Calatayud2,3,4, Sanjib Guha5
1Department of Biological Sciences, The University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, AL, 35487, USA.
Abstract:
Parkinson's disease is associated with intracellular α-synuclein accumulation and ventral midbrain dopaminergic neuronal death in the Substantia Nigra of brain patients. The Rho GTPase pathway, mainly linking surface receptors to the organization of the actin and microtubule cytoskeletons, has been suggested to participate to Parkinson's disease pathogenesis. Nevertheless, its exact contribution remains obscure. To unveil the participation of the Rho GTPase family to the molecular pathogenesis of Parkinson's disease, we first used C elegans to demonstrate the role of the small GTPase RAC1 (ced-10 in the worm) in maintaining dopaminergic function and survival in the presence of alpha-synuclein. In addition, ced-10 mutant worms determined an increase of alpha-synuclein inclusions in comparison to control worms as well as an increase in autophagic vesicles. We then used a human neuroblastoma cells (M17) stably over-expressing alpha-synuclein and found that RAC1 function decreased the amount of amyloidogenic alpha-synuclein. Further, by using dopaminergic neurons derived from patients of familial LRRK2-Parkinson's disease we report that human RAC1 activity is essential in the regulation of dopaminergic cell death, alpha-synuclein accumulation, participates in neurite arborization and modulates autophagy. Thus, we determined for the first time that RAC1/ced-10 participates in Parkinson's disease associated pathogenesis and established RAC1/ced-10 as a new candidate for further investigation of Parkinson's disease associated mechanisms, mainly focused on dopaminergic function and survival against α-synuclein-induced toxicity.
More Related Videos
14:45Analyzing the Parkinson's Disease Mouse Model Induced by Adeno-associated Viral Vectors Encoding Human α-Synuclein
Published on: July 29, 2022
10:03Studying Pre-formed Fibril Induced α-Synuclein Accumulation in Primary Embryonic Mouse Midbrain Dopamine Neurons
Published on: August 16, 2020
Related Concept Videos
GTPases and their Regulation
Large G-proteins,...
GTPases and their Regulation
Compounds Essential to Human Function
Inorganic Compounds Essential to Human Functioning
Inorganic compounds essential to human functioning include water, salts, acids, and bases. These compounds are inorganic, i.e., they do not have a carbon-hydrogen bond. Water...
Mechanical Protein Functions
Coat Assembly and GTPases
Coat assembly depends on the local availability of phosphatidylinositol phosphates or PIPs and GTP-binding proteins. Adaptor proteins, which link the coat proteins to the membrane, bind to these PIPs and play a crucial role in controlling...
Small GTPases - Ras and Rho
Three regulatory proteins control their activity: